Bitcoin's unprecedented loss

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Stablecoin transfers surge 16-fold, signaling crypto adoption milestone

Key points:

• Monthly stablecoin transfer volume has surged over 16 times in the past four years.

• Stablecoin market capitalization is up over 24% year-to-date.

News - The use of stablecoins, cryptocurrencies pegged to real-world assets like the US dollar, is exploding. According to Token Terminal, monthly stablecoin transfer volume reached a record high of $1.68 trillion in April, a staggering 16-fold increase from $100 billion in October 2020.

This surge can be seen as a sign of a growing mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies. DeFiLlama reported that the combined market cap of all stablecoins now sits at over $162 billion, a 24% increase year-to-date. This suggests more capital is flowing into the crypto market, potentially driven by growing investor conviction.

What’s more? The increasing popularity of stablecoins is further underscored by a burgeoning user base. Visa's stablecoin dashboard reveals over 31.1 million active users conducted more than 353 million transactions in the past month alone.

Furthermore, March 2024 marked the first time cumulative stablecoin transfer volume surpassed $1 trillion, with the total reaching $1.27 trillion across all issuers.

A significant driver of stablecoins’ growth appears to be the increasing integration of tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) with stablecoins. Interestingly, Tether, the world's largest stablecoin issuer, processed a staggering $716 billion of the $1 trillion volume in March.

Bitcoin network’s activity declines amid price drop to $64,100

Key points:

• Bitcoin network activity has significantly declined, with block size and transaction rates reaching yearly lows.

• The decrease in activity is likely linked to the recent fall in Bitcoin price and the halved block rewards from the April halving event.

News - The Bitcoin network is experiencing a slowdown, with a significant decline in average block size and transaction rates coinciding with a drop in the price of Bitcoin.

This decrease in block size, which reflects the amount of transaction data stored in each block, indicates a sharp fall in activity on the Bitcoin blockchain. On 7 June, Bitcoin network activity reached its lowest point for the year so far.

The decline in transactions per second (TPS) further highlights the slowdown. This metric, which measures the network's processing power for transactions, has also fallen in June. It suggests a potential reduction in miner profitability, likely due to the halved block rewards implemented during the Bitcoin halving event in April.

Anything positive? However, despite the current lull in Bitcoin network activity, there are signs of life in other parts of the Bitcoin ecosystem. Runes minting market, a sector built on the Bitcoin blockchain, remains profitable. This suggests continued user engagement within the broader Bitcoin network.

Looking ahead, analysts like Rekt Capital warn of a potential prolonged correction for Bitcoin. They point to the recent price action clustering around the resistance level of $71,600 and predict a possible retest of support levels at $64,000 and $62,500.

Kraken discloses $3M breach; alleges extortion by security researchers

Key points:

• A security researcher reported a vulnerability to Kraken's bug bounty program.

• The researcher allegedly disclosed the exploit to others who stole $3 million from Kraken.

News - Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken is accusing a security researcher of extortion after they allegedly exploited a vulnerability to steal $3 million from the company's treasury.

What happened exactly? According to Kraken's Chief Security Officer, Nick Percoco, the researcher initially reported the vulnerability through the company's bug bounty program on 9 June. The bug allowed users to inflate their account balance by initiating deposits that weren't fully completed.

While Kraken quickly patched the issue, the situation took a turn for the worse. The security researcher, instead of cooperating further, reportedly disclosed the exploit to two others who then withdrew nearly $3 million from their Kraken accounts.

Why is it a case of extortion? Kraken emphasizes that these funds were stolen from the company's reserves, not from individual users' accounts. Additionally, the initial bug report made no mention of these unauthorized withdrawals. When Kraken pressed for details, the researcher refused to cooperate and demanded a meeting with the company's sales team.

They also conditioned the return of the stolen funds on receiving an unspecified amount of money from Kraken, supposedly reflecting the potential damage the bug could have caused.

Investors eye MATIC's potential recovery as market sentiment improves

Key points:

• MATIC has been in a downtrend since March but could be poised for recovery.

• RSI suggests negative sentiment might be easing for MATIC.

News - MATIC is showing signs of potential recovery, fueled by a combination of investor sentiment and broader market trends. Despite being in a downtrend since March, MATIC could be poised for a turnaround.

One indicator is the Relative Strength Index (RSI). While currently bearish, the RSI hasn't dipped into oversold territory, suggesting that negative sentiment might be easing. Historically, this has often preceded price increases for MATIC.

On-chain indicator - The Market Value to Realized Value (MVRV) ratio also hinted at a potential upswing. MVRV sat at -15%, indicating investors were in loss territory. This has often triggered buying pressure in the past, with the -10% to -20% range historically acting as an accumulation zone for MATIC.

Investors’ actions will be crucial in determining MATIC's future trajectory. If investors start accumulating MATIC, it could trigger a rally.

However, short-term price movements paint a somewhat concerning picture. MATIC recently fell below its consolidation zone and hit an eight-month low of $0.60. The next critical support level sits at $0.53.

A rebound from this support or continued recovery could push MATIC back to the $0.75-$0.64 consolidation range. Conversely, a drop below $0.53 would significantly weaken the bullish thesis and make recovery more challenging.

More stories from the crypto ecosystem

• The silent Bitcoin market: What’s happening behind the scenes at $65K?

• Are Shiba Inu bulls back? SHIB rises for the first time in a month

• Crypto Fear and Greed Index shows ‘greed,’ but is the on-ground reality different?

• Altcoin dominance at 9%, drops 15% in 30 days: What now?

• Nvidia crypto mining lawsuit sees silver lining – Stock rises 3.5%

Did you know?

• It's challenging to enforce a complete ban on cryptocurrency. While numerous nations have debated the idea of outlawing digital currencies, the inherent nature of cryptocurrency makes it resistant to such prohibitions.

• As per CoinATMRadar data, there are 34,479 crypto ATMs across 77 countries, managed by 603 operators. The United States dominates with 88% or 30,380 of these ATMs, while Canada (2,253) and El Salvador (205) follow as the second and third, respectively.

• Over the past nine years, Bitcoin witnessed a staggering growth, surging by more than 500,000%. Enthusiasts of Bitcoin anticipate its continued ascent, challenging traditional economic trends.

Top 3 coins of the day

Bitcoin Cash (BCH)

Key points:

• At press time, BCH was trading at $388.42 with sell pressure in the fore.

• The coin was 16.22% down in the past seven days.

What you should know - BCH reached a local high of $719 on 5 April after which it started correcting. From 22 April, however, the coin traded within a range of $429-$527. Interestingly, on 13 June, BCH broke out of the sideways trading pattern and reached its 3 months support of $372. The market structure was dominated by sellers, at the time of analysis. The reading of the leading indicator RSI showed that a trend reversal could be expected within a short period which could take BCH to its resistance level of $457 soon.

Near Protocol (NEAR)

Key points:

• NEAR saw a decline of 25.21% in the past week.

• The decline could have resulted from BTC’s fall in value.

What you should know - The AI token NEAR was reeling under selling pressure with lower lows forming on its daily chart. After 26 May, the coin has been on a gradual decline, highlighting sellers’ bias in the NEAR market. At press time, NEAR was trading at $4.961, close to its support zone of $4.857-$4.061. In the past two days, bullish forces tried to rescue NEAR to $5.585 level, but the momentum wasn’t strong enough. Well, the selling pressure might continue for a couple of more trading sessions because of a lack of demand - Something that the MACD indicator hints at.

Cardano (ADA)

Key points:

• At the time of this analysis, ADA was exchanging hands at $0.3827.

• It was up by about 2.66% in the last 24-hours.

What you should know - Like most of the popular cryptocurrencies, ADA too was seeing a bearish momentum prevailing on its chart. However, in the last 24-hours bulls had taken command. The volume oscillator indicator highlighted that the volume had been low and it was, in fact, on a decline. Hence, the 24-hour gains might not last in the next few trading sessions. If that materializes, ADA will then fall to its support level of $0.3567. On the contrary, if bulls take the lead for a longer period, ADA might go up to its resistance of $0.4966.